Church leads NU women to satisfying win over SVSU in her final game|Church leads NU women to satisfying win over SVSU in her final game

By Fred Kelly fred.kelly@mdn.net

Published
10:00 pm EST, Saturday, March 2, 2013

Rachel Church’s final season with Northwood’s women’s basketball team didn’t go quite as she had hoped. But the fifth-year senior from Bullock Creek went out with style on Saturday — and she couldn’t have been happier.

Church, who has battled various injuries during her collegiate career, was on-target in her final game and played a big part in the Timberwolves’ season-ending 76-54 win over archrival Saginaw Valley State at the Bennett Center.

With the victory, NU ends at 12-16 overall and 10-12 in the GLIAC. The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Timberwolves and avenged an embarrassing 74-51 loss to the Cardinals four weeks earlier.

“There are a lot of emotions (for me) right now, but it’s definitely great to go out with a win like that. I’m very proud of our team tonight,” said Church, who scored 16 points and was 4 of 5 from 3-point range.

“ ... We ended on a great note, and hopefully that’s momentum for next year that (the returners) can build on,” she added. “I couldn’t be happier.”

As pleased as Church was with the victory, she admitted that the evening was bittersweet.

“Basketball’s been my life since I was seven, and it’ll definitely be an adjustment when the girls start next season and I don’t have to be there,” she said. “It’s definitely sad (to see my career end), but I couldn’t have asked for a better career, coach, or team.”

Despite her assortment of injuries — which included a torn ACL in her second season at Northwood and a stress fracture in her foot this season which caused her to miss six games — and despite the fact that the Timberwolves missed the postseason during both her junior and senior years, Church said she has no regrets.

“Not a thing,” she replied when asked if she would change anything about her time at NU. “I got hurt (a few times) and things happened, but I think that definitely made me a stronger person and player. I believe everything happens for a reason, and I’m very happy (with how my career played out).”

Church finishes her career as the school record-holder in every 3-point-shooting category, including 265 career 3-pointers made (96 more than anyone else in program history), 773 career 3-pointers attempted (231 more than anyone else), and 83 3-pointers made in a season (11 more than anyone else).

“Rachel’s a great kid. She’s the best 3-point shooter we’ve ever had in our program. ... And as good as she is at basketball, she’s an even better person,” said NU coach Jeff Curtis. “She’s the kind of person you can call and want to have (babysit) your kids, and you trust her with stuff like that. And she’s basically a straight-A student and earning her master’s degree here.

“She’s going to be so successful (in life), and she has the charisma and personality to go with (her hard work),” Curtis added. “She’s just a tremendous individual. I couldn’t be more happy for her. She’s had a great career here.”

A great career and a great start on Saturday.

Church hit three early 3-pointers to help the Timberwolves build a 15-7 lead. Saginaw Valley cut it to 17-14, but NU answered with an 11-2 run bookended by a 3-point play by Jordyn Nurenberg and another 3-pointer by Church to extend to a 28-16 lead.

Northwood ended up matching its biggest lead of the half, 37-23, on Church’s mid-range jumper going into the break.

The Timberwolves started slow in the second half but then reeled off 10 straight points to make it 47-28. After NU stretched its lead to 19 on another 3-point play by Nurenberg, the Cardinals went on a 10-2 run to slice the deficit to 52-41.

Northwood scored the next five points, though, pushing its lead to 57-41 with 8:23 to play and eventually extending to a 21-point lead on the way to a blowout victory.

“I thought we executed really, really well tonight, and that’s probably the best execution for 40 minutes that we’ve had all year long,” said Curtis, adding with a smile, “ ... You hate to see a season come to an end after a good win like that, because you’re thinking, ‘Hey, all right, yeah. Look what we did.’

“ ... It’s a great win for us. It gives us a little momentum going into the offseason, and we’ve got 16 of our 18 (players) back next year. ... We’ve got such a young group, and I feel like the freshmen, in particular, have gotten so much better in the last three weeks. That’s so encouraging for the future.”

Northwood shot 45 percent (26 of 58) from the floor and 83 percent (19 of 23) from the foul line, while SVSU was 39 percent (19 of 49) from the floor and 67 percent (12 of 18) from the line.

Gabrielle Rivette led the Timberwolves with 17 points, four assists, and four steals, while Lauren Robak had 12 points and Nurenberg 10 points.

The Cardinals (13-13, 11-11), who are headed to the GLIAC Tournament for the first time ever, were led by Emily Wendling’s 15 points, while Kayla Womack had 11 points, and Danielle Carriere added eight.

Asked if he had a spot available to hire Church as an assistant coach, Curtis replied with a chuckle, “I wish. As of right now, no. But certainly, I would hire her in a heartbeat (if the opportunity arose).”

For her part, Church said she hasn’t given a lot of thought to potentially coaching.

“Maybe (I would be interested),” she said. “I really haven’t thought too much about future plans, because I’ve been too focused on playing. But I definitely would love to stay involved somehow in the sport.”